LUCKLESS Chippenham Town bravely bowed out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night against National League outfit Maidenhead United, losing their fourth qualifying round replay 1-0.

Salt was rubbed into the Bluebirds’ wounds following Adrian Clifton’s 74th-minute strike after two disallowed goals coupled with three efforts denied only by the post left Mark Collier’s men dejected by their exit.

A dream first round tie against League One table-toppers Portsmouth at home wasn’t to be, and Collier couldn’t help but feel his men were hard done by.

He said: “Some days those decisions and shots will go in your favour.

“They (Maidenhead) weren’t too much of a threat to us, in fairness.

“It’s difficult to talk about because so many of the players were upset about the result. It was a dressing room of hurt afterwards, because we performed well enough to get something from the game.

“A lot of big decisions didn’t go our way and bits of luck didn’t go our way. We were luckless on Tuesday, in fairness.

“But that’s football, and we have to move on. We’ll take a lot of positives from the fact that we’ve gone toe-to-toe over 180 minutes with a decent National League side.

“By their own admission, I think they’re lucky to get through.”

While discussion of a possible match-up against Pompey wasn’t discussed prior to Tuesday night’s replay, Collier admitted it was hard to erase any thoughts of a money-spinning home tie against Kenny Jackett’s side.

The Bluebirds’ commitment, work-rate and energy couldn’t be faulted by the Town boss – who believes performing at a similar level for the remainder of the season will stand his men in good stead when it comes to the club’s National League South campaign.

He said: “We knew there was a massive carrot waiting for us.

“But that was the same for Maidenhead, they will be just as pleased to advance as we would’ve been.

“If we played poorly and lost we would hold our hands up, but we played well. We just didn’t get that goal.

“It just wasn’t our day.

“We had fantastic support from the fans, and I’m disappointed for the fans because they were outstanding.

“We travelled as underdogs but we knew we could be a threat to them on a decent playing surface. That’s the way it turned out.”